Monday Musings--26 December 2011

Right now:  6:30 a.m., the Feast of St. Stephen, protomartyr.  Chilly out, looks as though it will be a clear day.

This weekend...we had a wonderful Christmas ("The best ever!", as the kids say every year), although I thought it might kill me.  On Saturday I made sure the kids were all bathed and set up my plan for my rather simple Christmas dinner.  I mixed up the dry ingredients for an orange-cinnamon coffee cake, which would be our breakfast before Mass on Christmas Day.  And I placed the goodies for each of the kids' stockings into individual plastic bags, so as to make filling stockings in the middle of the night somewhat easier.  We snacked on a party platter (a gift) and the smoked salmon from the Harry & David delivery (another gift) and watched The Polar Express. 


I went to bed at 10:30, but this stupid cough kept me up until 11.  Then at 1:30 Dominic woke me having had a nightmare.  I got him settled back in bed, and decided that as I was already up, I might as well do the gifts and stockings.  I got everything under the tree and the stockings filled, and returned to bed at about 2.  Coughing fits prevented me from sleeping more than an hour at a time, and I rose at 5 to put the ham in the slow cooker and have a cup of coffee.  Naturally all the kids but for Gemma were up at 6.  I woke Gemma at 6:20, and the kids opened their presents.  There weren't many, but I think they were pleased with them.  I did try to choose carefully.

We went to Mass at the Chapel of Divine Mercy.  It was very quiet and nice, most folks having decided to either go to Midnight Mass or their parish churches.  I think there were 45 folks in the pews (counting our 8) and 10 priests.  I had to leave twice on account of coughing fits, and on the ride home, I fell asleep.

We changed clothes at home and I prepared the sweet potatoes and corn casserole.  Then the kids opened a few more gifts--items that our local Vietnam Vets had purchased for them, mainly clothing items--and then we had our dinner.

The kids spent the evening playing with their toys and watching Night at the Museum.  I spent the evening tidying up the rooms so that I wouldn't have to face the disaster this morning.  I turned in at 8:30 and had no strength left to read or knit.  I took a dose of cough medicine my mom brought by, took a dose of melatonin, and turned out the light at around 9.  I slept relatively well, and didn't cough too much.

Some plans for this week:  I plan to write some thank you notes, do a little school planning for when we get back to it, and I plan to read to the kids a lot.  I need to get back to Adrian's sweater so that he will get it before winter is over!  I also want to sit down with the kids and think of things we can do to pass on some of the goodness we have received this Christmas.  Exhaustion and illness are making things hard.  I don't really feel motivated to knit, to blog, or to do much of anything right now.  Some of that can also be attributed to Post-Christmas Burnout.  I did so much for the last month, I think I need to recuperate a bit.

If I find time for myself, I plan to:  just take it pretty easy this week!

I am grateful for:  the codeine cough syrup mom brought over!  I can't take too many 4-hour nights of interrupted sleep without feeling like I am going to lose my mind!  I am very, very grateful for all the kindness shown by friends, family, church and community.  My kids have learned a great lesson from all of that, and I think it will make them eager to do something for others, too.

Some prayer intentions for this week:  We will be keeping all our benefactors in our rosary intentions this week.  I am also praying for an end to my cough and Adrian's (the other kids got colds--Adrian and I seem to have weak lungs and ended up with the cough), or at least that it gets no worse before getting better. I am praying for my dad, who is having health problems; and for some other family-related matters.

Something that makes me smile:  There were so many moments yesterday!  And you know, I didn't take ANY PHOTOS of our Christmas, for the first time ever.  I was just so exhausted, all I could do was sit with the kids as they opened their presents.  I plan to take a few photos this week of the kids playing with their favorite gifts, just so I have some kind of record of this Christmas.

If you want to join in with your own Musings, grab the header image for your post and link back here, if you would.  If you like, you can leave a link to your post in the comments.  Have a great week!  Merry Christmas!